The Fantasy 413: Trades that could save your MLB season

The Blue Jays' Jose Bautista has been flexing his muscles to the delight of fantasy owners for several years now, and he's definitely someone worth dealing for.Associated Press file photo

The most important thing to get right in fantasy sports is your draft. Whether your league conducts a boring, old pick-by-pick draft, or whether you and your mates get serious with keepers, contracts, auctions or something crazy we haven’t heard of, drafting properly is what sets you up for a summer of winning and bragging.

Thing is, drafts are done. You’re already somewhere on the spectrum of the guy who drafted Jean Segura to play shortstop (the good end) or the guy who drafted Erick Aybar. Luckily, the second-most important thing you can do correctly in fantasy sports is trade.

In that spirit, we’re going to talk about trade targets. Your league trade deadline is most likely within the next 30 days, so you should start laying the groundwork for some deals now. Here are five guys we see as ideal objects for your affection:

Jose Bautista, Blue Jays OF: Bautista is a top 15 outfielder by most every scoring system. He’s put up 15 home runs entering Friday, good enough for 10th in the league, but we think he gets even better. Are you the lucky owner who drafted Chris Davis this season? If so, see what Bautista’s owner thinks of a one-for-one swap – you’ll be well set up if you can pull that one off.

Jonathan Lucroy, Brewers C: Two things of note about Lucroy. 1. This is a guy you can get. It’s not the same as trying to deal for Bautista or some other top players. 2. This advice would have been much more valuable earlier in the week – he’s been on a tear. That said, maybe Lucroy’s current owner is still jaded over the awful start he had. He’s worth a shot.

Angel Pagan, Giants OF: Pagan might be a forgotten man in your league. He’s the new Juan Pierre – a guy who everyone knows about in roto leagues, but not in head-to-heads. He’s also been on the disabled list since May 28. When he’s healthy, he’s an excellent third outfielder or a pretty good second outfielder. Don’t deal the farm for him, but maybe a couple of chickens or a goat.

David Ortiz, Red Sox DH: Ortiz is a tough guy to deal if you’re reading this from your home in beautiful, sunny New England. He’s an icon around these parts, and the owner who drafted him this year (while he was injured, no less) surely enjoys having Big Papi on his team. That said, he’s tailed off as of late. He was hitting .364 on May 19, but since then his average dropped to .333 entering Friday with only two homers during that span. Now that we know he’s not participating in the Home Run Derby, we are confident that his next hot streak is just around the bend.

Justin Verlander and Doug Fister, Tigers SPs: We’re cheating and adding a sixth player. Both guys are pitching much better than their records indicate, and the Tigers are going to win that cupcake division going away. Anibal Sanchez and Max Scherzer seem to be getting most of the buzz on that pitching staff, but we see Verlander and Fister as the two you want to have for the second half.
The Fantasy 413 column appears in The Republican and on MassLive each Saturday. The Republican’s Fantasy Guys can be reached at thefantasy413@gmail.com, on Twitter @TheFantasy413 and through the comments section on MassLive. 